1 40 Volcanos. 



" The crust of the globe must then have been composed of 

 concentric coats, consisting 1 of 1st, The secondary and transition 

 series of strata ; 2diy. The series of laminar and schistose crys- 

 talline rocks, viz. gneiss, mica-talc and chlorite, schists, &,c. ; 

 3dly, and finally, the granitoidal matter confined at an intense 

 heat by the compression of the overlying strata. 



" The origin of the sedimental and arenacious deposits of the 

 ocean, composing the first series, discloses itself by the organ- 

 ic remains contained in them, and their analogy to the actual 

 deposits of our rivers, lakes, and seas. The fragmentary rocks 

 apparently owe the magnitude of the scale on which they have 

 been sometimes produced to the violent oscillatory movements 

 to which, as has been noticed above, the ocean must have been 

 subjected by any paroxysmal elevation of a large portion of its 

 bottom. Even where the elevation took effect only on strata 

 already raised above the sea level, the effect on the waters of 

 the globe would be still most powerful ; for the radius of the 

 glube being dilated on that point, a proportional body of water 

 must rush immediately Towards the opposite, or antipodal point, 

 to preserve the equilibrium of the globe, and a series of violent 

 oscillatory movements must take place general to the whole 

 ocean, and producing a permanent alteration in the relative 

 levels of land and water ail over the earth ; these effects being 

 proportioned to the mass of matter raised, and the amount of 

 its elevation. The coarser fragments transported by such mo- 

 ving waters, will have been deposited in the longitudinal vallies 

 of mountain ranges, and wherever the currents were first con- 

 siderably checked. The finer detritus will have afterwards 

 subsided, when the ocean had regained its equilibrium, and 

 mixed with the precipitations which were taking place contem- 

 poraneously from its waters, and with the bituminous and cal- 

 careous matter, proceeding from the decomposition of vegeta- 

 ble and animal substances, the shells of molluscas, coralline bod- 

 ies, &c. produced the sedimentary formation. As the depth of 

 these beds of pulpy matter increased, the consequent pressure 

 upon the lowest of them, by bringing the similar particles slow- 

 ly and gradually within the sphere of action of their mutual at- 

 tractive forces, occasioned the successive formation of separate 

 horizontal concretions, or strata, more or less fully consolidated, 

 which some subsequent expansion elevated above the sea level, 

 where they lost by drainage all the water they contained, and 

 were by desiccation still farther indurated. 



" The author opposes the Huttonian theory, that these strata 

 were hardened by heat from the'interior of the globe, which he 

 thinks wholly disproved by the occurrences of clays and shales 

 beneath indurated strata. The consolidation of limestones, 



